Sunday, 15 January 2023

To go or not to go

 




You want to go, but know you must stay,

you want to stay but know you must leave,

your head and heart both in disarray -

the exact balance hard to achieve.

 

It’s been so long since you slotted in,

you’ve been an outsider everywhere -

kin to strangers, stranger to your kin

your roof got built neither here nor there.

 

You’ve been a minority of one

except for just a few years of grace

and now it’s become an addiction

this constant movement from place to place.

 

But even so, you don’t want to stop -

and be consumed by walls and rooftop.



Well, the one that wasn't supposed to start off the year suddenly got way too big for its boots and developed a mind of its own. It just ran away with its own smug self and has now added nine more parts to itself...and still counting...


Presenting the third part...good thing that pen or word control is not on the agenda for this year. 


Meanwhile, another piece of mine got published on The Daily Life Magazine last month. I'm tardy with links, but it doesn't matter really. January is a good time to plan, any month is a good time because...as we all know - 'plans are nothing; planning is everything.' 


Next month is a Challenge month at WEP and it will kick off a set off luscious movie-based writing prompts, I'm super excited about that! Check them out here.


13 comments:

  1. Hari OM
    My, but I so identify with these words! ... YAM xx

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    1. I think the expats and third culture kids will identify the most! :)

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  2. HOW this resonates. Congratulations on another publication. I am looking forward to reading WEP entries too.

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    1. Thank you! For reading here, and at WEP. Much appreciated. It's going to be a fab year with the movie magic challenges!

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  3. Planning is everything, I like that as I do lots of planning, but the plans don't always complete.
    Although I've moved around, I've never gone too far to drive home.

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    1. That's the nature of plans - not complete and not always executed or even executable. Reason you have the A and B and even C :)

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  4. Congratulations on the published piece!
    That part is so sad. The rolling stone that will never stop moving.

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    1. Thank you!
      Rolling stones collect no moss. It's a lesson in detachment. :)

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  5. Your poem is intriguing since it is so opposite my life. I was in the same home in PA for 20 plus years, now in TX for 30 plus years. Plus my dad is still in my childhood home, so I go home to that root. The thought of moving constantly gives me agita. Interesting perspectives, my friend. Good work

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    1. Your comment reminds me of a poem by Tagore about a wild bird and a pet bird and their worldviews and lifestyle. Constant movement and a settled life both have their own, contrasting charms. However, the call of the roots is powerful and catches up with folks sooner or later. I know people who stayed away for 30-40 years but have moved back into their hometowns/birthplaces to spend their last years there.

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  6. Congratulations Nila on your latest publication! May there be many more this year!
    I like your poem, the sense of meandering. I'd rather be a rolling stone than caught in a rut (which you will never be!)
    My sense of excitement is building. GWTW! Yes! A fresh breeze blowing in. Can't wait to see where this one goes!

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    1. Thanks, Denise!
      Well, one thing meandering is NOT - is boring, that's for sure. I'm so excited about GWTW! - actually this entire set of prompts.

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  7. Hi Nila - this definitely applies: so appropriately to me ... the lone wanderer ... and now a slightly different persona - whether I'm me and family, me as a blogger, me as a member of various groups ... me as me: who has lived In Africa, Canada, worked with East Europeans et al - now that's difficult!!!

    I'd slot in though wherever - as long as I made the decision and wasn't whisked off by some cruel, unthinking personage.

    More prompts - my mind is wandering in that direction ... sometime they just happen, other times they percolate ... cheers and Happy New Year - Hilary

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